St. Germain - Fire destroyed a cottage in St. Germain on Monday --and winter plumbing problems may be to blame.St. Germain Fire Chief Tim Clark said a plumber might have started the fire while thawing out the building's pipes. His crew rushed to Deer Run Resort around 12:20 yesterday afternoon."While in route, that there was flames coming out the building. That's when we called for some more mutual aid. When I got here fire was already going through the windows."Arbor Vitae and Plum Lake firefighters were there, too. They controlled the fire within an hour.
But it took about two hours for crews to clear the smoke. Clark said the building's roof was the biggest problem. "It's got a double roof on it and the fire got in between the two roofs, and it was hard for us to vent the building because of the double roof." Clark said the cottage was a total loss worth about 100-thousand dollars.